Hamlet I, ii, 133-164

O, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt,

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew,
Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
His canon gainst self-slaughter! O God, God,
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on t, ah fie! Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed. Things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this:
But two months dead nay, not so much, not two.
So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth,
Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him
As if increase of appetite had grown
By what it fed on. And yet, within a month
Let me not think on t; frailty, thy name is woman!
A little month, or ere those shoes were old
With which she followed my poor fathers body,
Like Niobe, all tears why she, even she
O God, a beast that wants discourse of reason
Would have mourned longer!, married with my uncle,
My fathers brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules. Within a month,

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears

Had left the flushing in her galled eyes,
She married. O, most wicked speed, to post
With such dexterity to incestuous sheets!
It is not, nor it cannot come to good.
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue.
AP Literature and Composition - Steps to close readings of Hamlet passages
1. Read the passage several times, out loud if practical.
2. Paraphrase in writing each sentence or thought division. Pay attention to punctuation, including dashes.
You may do this right on the handout to the right of the text.
3. Who is the speaker?
4. Who is the audience?
5. Is the language formal or informal?
6. What is the subject matter?
7. Setting?
8. Occasion?
9. Purpose?
10. What is the tone? Does the tone shift? Write tone words on the left of the soliloquy and TS where a shift
occurs.
11. What literary devices are used? Notice especially word choice, images, metaphor, personification, etc.
Write an I for imagery, M for metaphor, P for personification, A for analogy, AL for allusion,
Si for simile, H for hyperbole, S for symbol on the text where you see them. Some of these may
overlap.
12. What is the effect of these literary devices on the characters and the audience?

13. How does this passage further the plot, reveal character and/or reveal conflict or resolution of conflict?